It’s time to tell accurate narratives and reject stereotypes, amplify Native voices, advocate for Native rights, and celebrate the rich and diverse contributions of Native peoples. As part of this, we must heal generational trauma, change the narrative, and support movements to decolonize and indigenize.

Here’s how.

Before we get started, what term should I use?

There are more than 467.6 million Indigenous people belonging to 5,000 different groups in over 90 countries around the world. In the U.S., there are 6.8 million Native Americans from more than 600 tribal nations. They represent different customs and cultures with unique histories. As a result, there is not a universally preferred term to express one’s identity. In some countries, you may hear the terms “Aboriginal,” “First Nations,” or “First Peoples.” In the U.S., you may hear the terms “Native,” “Native American,” “Indigenous,” “American Indian,” among others. Many now prefer to use their tribal name. When in doubt, use the term preferred by the person you are speaking with or referring to.

Learn about generational trauma

Generational trauma is a relatively new concept that was first recognized in the 1960s when psychologists began to study the mental health of children of Holocaust survivors.  The term is often used interchangeably with collective, historical, or intergenerational trauma.  Simply put, it is trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation.  It can be caused by stress and abuse at the individual level.  Or, it can be caused by mass atrocities such as colonialism, slavery, war, famine, and genocide.  

Today, an emerging body of research reveals that generational trauma affects descendants of enslaved African-Americans (see Dr. Joy Degruy’s work on Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome), Native American survivors of genocide and colonization, and other historically oppressed populations.  A single catastrophic event does not characterize this form of generational trauma.  Instead, it is the experience of long-term, mass trauma —  often condoned by or perpetrated by the State — that is universally lived through by a population over time.  This experience produces a legacy of physical, psychological, social, and economic disparities that persist across generations.  

Trauma affects brain development, the immune system, and even our DNA. There is some evidence to suggest that trauma is passed down through the genes by altering chemical markers, which can affect how offspring respond to and handle certain conditions.  This is known as the epigenetic inheritance of trauma.    

Individuals who have experienced trauma are at a higher risk of poor physical and mental health.  Trauma rewires the brain and can cause increased vigilance and suspicion, increased sensitivity to threat, a sense of a foreshortened future, increased risk-taking, mistrust of authority, and loss of identity. 

Secondary and subsequent survivors of generational trauma may also experience:

• Original trauma through loss of culture and language and first-hand experiences of discrimination, injustice, poverty, and social inequality.

• Vicarious trauma through the collective memory, storytelling, and oral traditions of the population. Traumatic events become embedded in the collective, social memories of the population. Offspring are taught to share in the ancestral pain of their people and may have strong feelings of unresolved grief, persecution, and distrust.

• Childhood trauma (aka adverse childhood experiences or ACEs). Communities impacted by generational trauma may get stuck in a vicious cycle of cause and consequence. Survivors of trauma are at higher risk of substance use, incarceration, domestic violence, child abuse, self-harm, and suicide. As a result, parents and caregivers impacted by generational trauma may expose children to early adversity, continuing the cycle. Learn more about the impact of ACEs by watching Nadine Burke Harris’s TED Talk.

Recognize unaddressed and unhealed historical harm is a root cause of today’s social injustices

Addressing generational trauma is critical to achieving social change and creating a more just and equitable world.   It acknowledges how the past impacts the current reality of historically oppressed and marginalized communities. It also helps us to understand entrenched racial inequities in physical, psychological, social, and economic outcomes.   Through understanding, we are able to challenge ongoing forms of systemic oppression and violence and build collective power towards ending it.  More importantly, confronting generational trauma is central to the process of healing, reconciliation, and restoration.  

If generational trauma is a form of collective trauma, then healing must also be experienced collectively.

When people get involved in their community and take action to address the causes of trauma, it contributes to a sense of purpose, power, liberation, and healing.  Our everyday activism must center communities who have experienced generational trauma and nurture their ability to restore their own well-being. This includes rejecting saviorism and applying healing and restorative justice frameworks.  

Healing justice and restorative justice

Healing justice is a political strategy to intervene in and respond to generational trauma and systemic oppression.  It lifts up resiliency and survival practices that center the collective safety and emotional, physical, spiritual, environmental, and mental wellbeing of communities. 

Restorative justice is a set of principles and practices rooted in indigenous societies that address the needs of those harmed while encouraging those who have caused harm to take responsibility. It reflects on the capacity of all people for healing, growth, and transformation by creating pathways for accountability, self-determination, and connection.

Build resilience and change the narrative

While it’s important to acknowledge our shared past and the history of violence and oppression against particular groups in our society, trauma stories must also become stories of survival and resilience.  That is, it is important to acknowledge the harm, but not be defined by it. 

Instead of focusing on victimization, strength-based narratives emphasize perseverance and hopefulness.  This is not meant to disregard painful events or whitewash history.  It is meant to begin the healing process by supporting survivors of trauma to focus on a positive vision of the future and celebrate their resilience in the face of ongoing oppression.  We also know that certain types of positive experiences can counter the effects of trauma, buffer against negative outcomes, and help people to heal.  

From celebrating Black joy to diversifying Hollywood to debunking toxic portrayals of Native Americans, the stories we tell and why and how we tell them matter. As IllumiNative states, “Change the story. Change the future.”

Broaden your understanding of Indigenous peoples, their histories, resistance, resiliency, and contemporary cultures.  

• Explore Native Americans in Philanthropy’s Native 101 and History Through a Native Lens Timeline.  

• Read An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Order the book or start with this excerpt. 

• Find out how IllumiNative is changing the story through accurate information, authentic representation, and narrative disruption.

Decolonize and indigenize!

Decolonization has multiple definitions. Some explicitly focus on the return of stolen land (see the Land Back movement), acknowledgment of indigenous sovereignty, and the formal process of handing over government.  Over time, the term has evolved to encompass dismantling colonial ideologies and challenging the superiority of Euro-American thought and approaches.  It is a rejection of white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and Euro-American dominance.  Decolonization is about shifting power and centering indigenous and other populations oppressed by colonization.  It also involves allies challenging their own privilege and seeking to dismantle the structures of oppression they inherited, created, and maintain.  

Decolonization has become a buzzword in many social justice spaces with decolonize movements popping up everywhere — for example,  “decolonize wealth,” “decolonize education,” and “decolonize the internet”  — to the point where there are even calls to decolonize the decolonization movement.  While some have critiqued the watering down and metaphorization of the term, others find it a useful framework for recovery, healing, and forging a new path forward. Check out these additional resources. 

If decolonization is about the undoing of colonization, then indigenization is about reaffirmation of indigenous ways of being and a reclamation of community, language, and history that were taken away through colonization.  

Indigenization includes rooting out white supremacy by becoming aware of, respecting, and incorporating indigenous perspectives and practices in westernized systems, institutions, and structures.  It involves elevating traditional knowledge across a range of non-monolithic indigenous cultures to transform how we interact with each other and the world around us. 

Many traditional and contemporary indigenous practices incorporate holistic approaches that have the opportunity to produce healthier and more sustainable social, political, economic, and environmental outcomes. Indigenous cultures across the globe have a rich history of responsibly stewarding and equitably sharing resources. From mental health to the environment, indigenous ways of doing and being are central to creating a more just and equitable world.

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Originally published October 12, 2021.

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